When SG-1 arrives on a world to free a group of captured Abydonians, including Kasuf. They quickly discover that the Abydonians’ captor is the Goa’uldAmonet — bride of Apophis, who has possessed the body of Daniel’s wife, Sha’re. While SG-1 frees the Abydonians and battles the Jaffa forces, Daniel pursues Amonet into her tent. He tries to speak with his wife, but quickly finds himself on his knees at the receiving end of a Goa’uld hand device.

Teal’c appears and, seeing the mortal danger Daniel is in, fires his staff weapon, killing Amonet and Sha’re. The group returns to Earth, and Daniel is in sorrow. He does not speak to Teal’c. At first, Daniel refuses to believe that Sha’re is truly dead — until Colonel O’Neill brings him to the morgue and shows him her body. There were no Jaffa remaining to take her to a sarcophagus, they tell Jackson.

When Daniel next awakens, Sha’re is at his side. The Goa’uld parasite within her is gone, and she has been restored to him! Daniel wonders which reality he has now experienced is the truth. As he moves back and forth, being assured that she is dead and then seeing her alive, real, Daniel slowly hears the message that Sha’re is telling him: “You must forgive Teal’c.”

Daniel finally acknowledges that she is dead, but struggles with the fact that he must forgive Teal’c — and that he must find Amonet’s son, the son of Apophis. The child is aHarcesis, the offspring of a forbidden Goa’uld union, who carries all the knowledge and secrets of the Goa’uld.

Finally, Daniel and his team return to Abydos to bury Sha’re. He resigns from the S.G.C., since his reason for being a part of it is over. But when Sha’re returns to him in his sleep, Daniel gets an idea: he rejoins the team and embarks on a mission with SG-1. After arriving on a new alien world, Daniel darts off and through the Stargate. He returns to the planet where Sha’re was found, to the tent where she was killed. Through his visions of her, this is where Sha’re has been telling him to go.

She is there, waiting for him. Jackson comes to realize that he must forgive Teal’c for what he has done, and that he has a new mission — find the boy. Soon we see that, in fact, no time has passed at all. Daniel is still kneeling before Amonet, as Teal’c fires his staff weapon to kill her.

Broken free of the hand device, Daniel collapses next to Sha’re’s body and tells Teal’c, “You did the right thing.” He is convinced that Sha’re communicated with him through the hand device, asking that he promise to find her son — and to say goodbye.

ANALYSIS

Amonet/Sha’re returned to Abydos in order to locate her stolen child. Amonet previously had told Apophis that the child had been stolen by Heru’ur (“Secrets”), but may have discovered from her host (Sha’re) that the child was being kept by the Abydonians. Amonet enslaved the people of Abydos to hide her true purpose from Heru’ur — she was looking for her son.

The child that Daniel and Teal’c delivered is the son of Apophis and Amonet. He is a Harcesis, a rare child born when two Goa’uld hosts mate (the practice is forbidden) rather than producing Goa’uld larva offspring, incubated within the Jaffa. Each Goa’uld retains the genetic memory of its predecessors; but a Harcesis is a human born with that Goa’uld genetic memory and knowledge. Now that Sha’re is dead, finding the child is Daniel’s primary motivation.

The son of Apophis and Amonet has been taken from Abydos by one of Amonet’s closest handmaidens, to a place called “Kheb.” In mythology, Kheb is said to be the place where Osiris hid from Seth.

The Goa’uld System Lord Heru’ur may also be a Harcesis, since he is also the son of two Goa’uld: Ra and Hathor (“Thor’s Chariot”). But this likely refers to his symbiote, and not to the possibility that his human host was fathered by the host of Ra (just as Klorel is said to be the “son” of Apophis, because “he seeded the queen mother” [“Within the Serpent’s Grasp”] — that is, provided her with human DNA in order to produce larval Goa’uld that could be incubated within human Jaffa).

NOTES

Because the Goa’uld hand (ribbon) device is controlled in part by the emotion of the user, the host can have some influence over it. The device can even be used to transmit detailed thoughts from the host to the victim. How these thoughts manifest themselves in the victim’s mind may be subjective — they are interpreted as somewhere between dreams and reality.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Daniel Jackson – The entire reason for Daniel to be a part of the Stargate program is now gone: his wife, Sha’re, is dead. But, in her death, Sha’re has given him a new purpose. He must find the child of Apophis and Amonet. The boy is a Harcesis, born of two Goa’uld and therefore possessing the genetic memory of the Goa’uld.

Daniel’s date of birth is July 8.

Teal’c – Though Daniel has already forgiven him, Teal’c may be burdened by the fact that he was forced to kill Sha’re. Was there no other way? Could he not have stopped her from attacking Daniel with the hand device using some means other than blasting her in the chest with his staff weapon? As in the past, Teal’c has again committed a great wrong in order to serve an even greater good (see “Children of the Gods”, “Cor-Ai”).

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Why did Amonet/Sha’re wait so long to return to Abydos? Did she want to wait until Apophis was dead, so that the fate he planned for their son (to be his next host) would not come to pass?

How did Amonet know that the child remained on Abydos, and was not taken by Heru’ur (“Secrets”)?

To what degree did Sha’re retain control over herself? Amonet glanced at the hiding SG-1 in “Secrets,” but did not reveal their position to Apophis. Might this indicate that Sha’re was not entirely buried by Amonet (as Skaara fought for control against Klorel in “The Serpent’s Lair”)?

Why did Teal’c not mention that the newborn child was a Harcesis a year ago (“Secrets”)? Did it slip his mind? Teal’c was, after all, highly motivated to bring Sha’re back to Earth and make use of her access to the Goa’uld genetic memory. Why leave her child on Abydos?

Were the frequent appearances by Sha’re actually attempts to contact Daniel, or just figments of his own imagination? If the former, why did she not try to deliver her message the first time he saw her?

What will SG-1 do with Sha’re’s body? Will she be given an Abydonian burial, as she was in Daniel’s vision? Taken to the Tok’ra to be brought back to life (if they even have a sarcophagus — which is doubtful, considering the fact that they refuse to use them [“The Tok’ra, Part 1”])? Or left in hopes that a Jaffa will come to Abydos, find her and take her to a sarcophagus?

PRODUCTION NOTES

Spoilers much? In Germany “Forever In a Day” was listed in viewers’ program guides as “Sha’re ist Tot” … “Sha’re is Dead.”

“Michael [Shanks] came to Brad and I and said, ‘How long are we going to do this Sha’re thing? It’s getting old.’

“And Brad and I hadn’t even thought about it at that time. We looked at each other and we discussed it a little bit and said, ‘You know he’s right. We’re beyond that now. We can get beyond that.’ So I said, ‘Well, why don’t we kill her? Why don’t we get rid of her? If we’re going to get rid of her, let’s really get rid of her.’ So we did.

“Let’s end that quest for him. Because otherwise it’s always going to be if he left, or if he cured her, or if he rescued her, or any of those things. Then you’re still stuck with it, really. And try to decide what to do with the character. And there wouldn’t be anything left to do.” (Executive producer Jonathan Glassner, in an interview with GateWorld)